Genus Neoscirula Den Heyer, 1977

Type species: Neoscirula theroni Den Heyer,1977

The genus Neoscirula was erected by Den Heyer (1977) and was consequently included in the subfamily Coleoscirinae (Den Heyer 1980a). It was transferred by Smiley (1992) to the subfamily Bonzinae Den Heyer,1978 (Nota bene: The original spelling of the latter subfamily name is with a single i) mainly on the grounds of these mites having, according to his interpretation, a pair of geniculate hg 1 setae, a feature not mentioned in the original description of this genus. Den Heyer (1980b) referred to this pair of setae as being “semi-geniculate” in Neoscirula sevidi. This could have led to the statement by Smiley (1992) that Neoscirula had geniculate setae hg 1, which is actually not the case for any known species of this genus. The authors of this paper are of opinion that the genus should stay in the Coleoscirinae for reasons subsequently presented.

Smiley’s (1992) first step to divide the family Cunaxidae is based on the presence of a pair of geniculate setae hg 1, regarding bent setae (common in most Neoscirula spp.) also as such. In order to be precise, the meaning of the term geniculate has been determined from various sources. The specific explanation is: “...bent at a sharp or abrupt angle….”. In the Cunaxidae geniculate structures occur only in two genera, i.e. in all Bonzia spp. and in an unpublished species of Cunaxa. Den Heyer (1978) redescribed B. halacaroides Oudemans and B. sphagnicola Willmann, illustrating what he regarded as geniculate hg 1 setae. When investigating the Cunaxa spp. Den Heyer (1979 b & c) illustrated a peculiar pair of vi sensillae (fig. 1) which he also regards as geniculate.

The first author of this paper is of the opinion that a new genus or subfamily should not be erected based on one species which differs from the other 20–25 species only by having geniculate sensillae vi. This means that geniculate setal structures should not be used as a first criterion for dividing a family (see Smiley 1992; p. 37). When this concept is strictly applied, only the genus Bonzia has a pair of true geniculate hg 1 setae (fig. 2). The hg 1 -setae of the genera Parabonzia and Neoscirula should be regarded as non-geniculate but bent in varying degree. Den Heyer & Castro (2008, in press) also made a change in the notation of the ventral idiosomal chaetotaxy of the Cunaxidae.

The original three species included in Neoscirula were described by Den Heyer (1977) from South Africa; he added a fourth species in 1980. Shiba (1978) described one species from Malaysia while Smiley (1992) added three more species from North-America and New Zealand. Corpuz-Raros (1996) reported on seven species from the Philippines. Four species were described from China, two by Lin & Zhang (1998) and two by Lin & Zhang (2002). Mejia-Recamier & Palacios-Vargas (2007) described three species from Mexico. The present paper describes three new Brazilian species.